Russia withholds support from Bush

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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/12671640.htm

President Bush did not obtain support Friday from Russian President Vladimir Putin in his bid to bring Iran before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions and acknowledged that he has not yet forged an international consensus on how to deal with Tehran's nuclear program.

After a meeting at the White House, Bush and Putin emerged to reaffirm their friendship and emphasize that they both oppose Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. Putin called for more diplomacy with Iran's new leadership.

"The potential of diplomatic solutions to all these issues is far from exhausted," Putin said at an appearance with Bush in the East Room a day after meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "And we will undertake all steps necessary to settle all these problems and issues, not aggravate them. ... We do not want our careless actions to lead to the development of events along the North Korean variant."

By that, Putin meant the heretofore fruitless attempts to force Pyongyang to give up its weapons development -- a program that the North Koreans say has yielded several nuclear bombs.